Welcome to The Baseline, the Palestine Herald-Press sports blog. Here, you'll find breaking news updates, live game updates, thoughts and musings on sports, both local and national, and more.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

20-3A Softball with 4 to play

There are only three games left in the District 20-3A softball season, and things at the top are getting a bit tight.

Here are the full standings:
Groesbeck 6-0
Westwood  4-2
Madisonville 4-2
Fairfield  3-3
Mexia  1-5
Palestine  0-6

Things for Westwood wouldn't be near this tight, but the Lady Panthers fell to Madisonville last night at home, a game that Westwood probably thought it would win after beating the Lady Mustangs on the road during the first round of play.

New THSBCA rankings released

The Elkhart and Cayuga baseball teams both remain in the latest edition of the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association (THSBCA) polls.

The Elks moved up a spot to No. 5 in Class 2A, while the Wildcats held firm at No. 6 in Class 1A.

Full rankings are after the jump.

Halftime in 20-3A Baseball

Thanks to the massive rain that blanket most of the state of Texas east of Interstate 35 Tuesday, the majority of 20-3A's baseball teams wrapped up the first half of district play Wednesday.

After those five games, here's where things stand (via the awesome 3Abaseball.com):

Madisonville (5-0)
Fairfield (4-1)
Groesbeck (3-2)
Palestine (2-3)
Westwood (1-4)
Mexia (0-5)

Nothing real surprising there, although there is really nice symmetry all the way down the standings.

I'm a bad blogger

So I haven't blogged on here, technically, since the girls' state basketball tournament. That was about a month ago.

Even calling that a blog is a stretch, since all I did was post the live chat link here.

Anyway, I'm going to try again and try to get back into things on here.

Starting in about 15 minutes when I post a new update, this one on the 20-3A baseball/softball standings.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Neches/Lipan State Final Chat

Friday, March 2, 2012

Neches/Moulton state semifinal chat

Thursday, February 23, 2012

What a day

Days like tomorrow (Friday) are why I love so deeply what I get paid to do on a daily basis. If you're a basketball fan, you'll like it just as much.

With so many local teams having successful playoff runs in this year's basketball playoffs, I've got a full slate scheduled for tomorrow.

At 10 a.m., I'll be at Tyler Junior College's Wagstaff Gym to watch two-time state champion Neches take on Savoy in an 1A, D-II girls regional semifinal.

After a little break, I'll be back at Wagstaff at 3 p.m. for the 1A, D-I semifinal between Slocum and Martin's Mill, after which I'll hop into my car.

I'll head up Hwy. 64 to Wills Point to watch the Cayuga boys take on Bland in the area round of the playoffs, after which I'll write about them all and then call it a day.

Don't want to make the drive to Bland? Lovelady and Sam Rayburn play at 5 p.m. at Wagstaff in the second 1A, D-I semifinal, and Grapeland takes on Gary at 7 p.m. at Whitehouse High School as well.

So, that's five relatively local games all within about an hour of each other.

Saturday has the possibility of two regional finals and baseball tournament final as well.

If you don't like live sports, then this certainly isn't for you. But if you're like me, get ready for a great weekend.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

East Texas owns 1A boys basketball, says TABC

As the playoffs for boys basketball get set to begin (or, already began I guess), the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches released its final polls Monday.

The prevailing result: East Texas dominates 1A, D-I basketball.

Three of the state's top-four teams hail from Region III, the UIL region that is predominantly East Texas. Clarksville is No. 1, Cayuga No. 3 and Tenaha No. 4.

Expanding further, Grapeland is No. 8, LaPoynor No. 12 and Lovelady is No. 15.

So, of the top 15 teams is Class 1A, D-I according to the coaches who obviously know the game, six are from East Texas. Not bad I'd say.

We can also expand even further with Broaddus (24). That's even leaving out Kerens (16), Big Sandy (19) and Evadale (20), three schools that could easily be considered part of East Texas but aren't in Region III.

So, it's not inconceivable that when four teams gather at Tyler Junior College's Wagstaff Gym next weekend for the regional tournament, all four could be in the top-10 and it's even more likely they'll all be in the top 15.

Not bad at all.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

It's been a week, huh?

I just realized that it's been a week since I've posted a blog, which is a failure on my part.

Normally in this spot, I'd post the weekly Inside the Polls blog post, but for the life of me can't get the TABC Web site to load so I can get the actual rankings.

It's about to get crazy in the sports world, with softball ball beginning this week and baseball next, not to mention the little thing called the basketball playoffs gearing up as we speak.

In talking with the Grapeland Messenger's Chris Boothe the other day, we decided it's probably the busiest time of the year to be a small-town sports editor. But man if it also isn't the funnest.

With multiple teams capable of making runs to at least the regional if not state basketball tournaments, it'll probably be a little while before I'm able to dive deep into baseball. Plus, soccer's district schedule is in full swing.

If you're a sports fan, now is your time. Hang on for a great ride.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A whole new meaning

At this time last week, tonight's Palestine/Westwood basketball games were nothing more than season finales for the girls and late-season games for the boys.

Sure, I thought, there might be some playoff implications (there's one, the Westwood boys can't lose this one, and they shouldn't) but nothing more than that.

Boy was I wrong.